Kimberly O'Brien Laboratory
The O'Brien Laboratory is located in room 261 and 262 of the Human Metabolic Research Unit (HMRU) in Martha Van Rensselaer Hall on the Cornell Ithaca campus.
Our main research interests in the laboratory focus on mineral dynamics with an emphasis on pediatric and pregnant populations. To undertake our research projects many of our studies utilize stable mineral isotopes as tracers. These tracers are measured using mass spectrometric instrumentation for high-sensitivity isotopic analyses. Dr. Kimberly O'Brien performs these analyses on a state of the art Thermoquest Triton TI magnetic sector thermal ionization mass spectrometer. The laboratory also houses a Finnigan quadrupole THQ thermal ionization mass spectrometer. Analytical services are also provided through collaboration with other academic institutions in the country. For more details, visit our Research and Information sections.
Lab Kudos:
- Corrie Whisner presented a poster at NY Academy of Sciences.
- Christine Akoh received a grant for graduate studies at Cornell.
- Rachel Lumish received the CPRS 2012 award.
- Christine Akoh was awarded a 2013 FASEB MARC/ASN Travel Award to attend the Experiment Biology Conference.
- Jocelyn Durlacher was awarded a College of Human Ecology Summer Research Award to work on cord chirality and placental physiology this summer! Way to go Jocelyn!
- Chang Cao was awarded the 2013 ASN Gerber Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship. This $5000.00 awarded was presented to Chang to recognize the excellence of her proposed project entitled, Fetal iron sources and regulation of placental iron transport. Congratulations Chang!
- Olivia Lee won 3rd place in the "Elsie Van Buren Rice Awards in Oral Communication". Good job Olivia!
Graduating Seniors' Future Plans:
- Olivia Lee was accepted to SUNY Upstate! Congrats!!!
Lab Alums' Future Plans:
- Thomas Bemis: Thomas will be working for Dr. Kevin Hall at the NIH in the National Institute for Diabetic Digestive and Kidney Diseases on a study looking at the selective reduction of dietary carbohydrate vs. fat reduction in obese patients.
- Selina Li: Selina will be attending medical school at the University of British Columbia in Canada
- Sana Maheshwari: Sana will be studying deformity correction in India under a Fulbright Student Research Grant and will then attend medical school.
- Bridget Essley: Bridget will be doing her post-doc at the University of Colorado, Denver on a pediatric nutrition training grant.
- Demetrios Papazaharias: Demetrios will be conducting orthopedics research at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City and will then attend medical school.
For Current Members in the O'Brien Laboratory:
Meetings and Jounal Club
Lab Meetings: Fridays at 8:30 am in MVR G87
Journal Club: not in session this semester
Upcoming Due Dates
Experimental Biology 2013: April 20-24, 2013 in Boston, MA
The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research
31st Annual Abstracts Submissions Deadline: Wednesday April 10th, 2013
2013 Annual Meeting: October 4-7th, 2013 in Baltimore, MD
International Federation of Placenta Associations
IFPA Meeting 2013:Of Mice and Women
September 11-14 in Toronto, Canada
American Society of Hematology
Annual Meeting: December 7-10, 2013 in New Orleans, LA
IBIS 2013 Meeting: April 14-18th, 2013 in London, UK
Developmental Origins of Health and Disease
DOHaD 2013 Meeting: November 17-20, 2013 in Singapore